My Dungeons and Dragons crafting fail - How to make DIY character tokens

[@heyitsMattyP]

*What's your crafting horror story?* -------------- ❤ Support the Channel ❤ -------------- 💚 Patreon: matthewperkins.net/patreon 💚 Donate: matthewperkins.net/donate 💚 Store: matthewperkins.net/store 💚 DM Guild: matthewperkins.net/dmsguild 💜 Twitch: matthewperkins.net/twitch 💜 TikTok: matthewperkins.net/tiktok 🧡 Discord: matthewperkins.net/discord 🧡 Facebook: matthewperkins.net/facebook 🧡 Twitter: matthewperkins.net/twitter 🧡 Instagram: matthewperkins.net/instagram 🧡 Reddit: matthewperkins.net/reddit ✏ Blog: matthewperkins.net/blog 📧 For marketing/business/sponsorship inquiries, email: [e-mail]

[@theadhdcraftycondo]

If you put the picture side down you can adjust it perfectly. Little tip from a paper crafter.

[@heyitsMattyP]

D'oh!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Your funny commentary, plus the comedic meta commentary at the top of the screen has got me again! Hilarious (and realistic) crafting video!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Cheers Bob!

[@LlamaNewton]

Thank you for making a crafting video that shows how things go in the real world for those of us that aren't great at crafts, but want to try! Your subtitles were hilarious, and I really like the idea of using the generic enemy tokens. My players like to 3d print minis, but it can get a bit ridiculous to store them after a while and if I want a special monster, at least one of them will have to know it's coming since I'm not the one with the 3d printer. This method will let me save time and preserve the element of surprise the next time I throw an unexpected monster at my players. Cheers!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Thanks for the kind words! This wasn't meant to be a panic-filled video, but I didn't have any backup supplies so I had to salvage it. I'd be onboard with a 3D-printed collection if I just had the space to store them. One benefit with these (which I didn't mention) is that they're so cheap and easy to make, if they ever get scratched or nicked, you don't feel bad at all. Unlike how awful I've felt whenever I see a painted mini's arm fall off. I'll upload those generic token images and my templates to Patreon for free this morning - shouldn't be too long!

[@donlloyd1297]

When I got back into gaming a couple of years ago I did something similar with 1" washers from the local hardware megastore, free software called TokenTool to print out round tokens with fancy borders if I wanted them, and the same hole punch you use. The replacement ink cartridges for my printer ended up being the most expensive part of the effort :)

[@heyitsMattyP]

Dude, same thing! But I jog down to the local print shop. Still, it's the 10¢ per page that adds up over time.

[@ethancooper1056]

If you want to store these well, they make these binder sheets you can get that have 1x1 inch pockets with lids for storing stamps/coins/etc. I haven't made these yet, but I instantly thought of those. Seems like these would be way easier to store and index quickly than like... paizo pawns.

[@heyitsMattyP]

THAT sounds amazing! I'm using this little tackle box from a dollar store, and I put whole encounters in each section. But I would prefer a binder's shape so it could sit on my bookshelf alongside the books a bit better. Those paizo stand-up 2D minis just don't work for me. The wind can knock them down and I'm always worried about bending them. Also, it's hard sometimes to tell them apart for at least one mini and one player around a table. Great in theory, but not in practise.

[@ethancooper1056]

Matthew Perkins yeah, they’re a great idea, for me the biggest problem is storage and indexing. I’ve seen people make little storage things for the boxes themselves, but that makes them bulky, and I have to carry the whole box to every session and blah blah. I think I’m gonna make these for when I can finally play irl again

[@IcarusGames]

OMG, Matt, this killed me! I loved every second of it. Your beautiful pain brought me great joy. Your descent into a nightmare parade of madness aside - really solid advice! Crafting videos are HARD work. Shortly before I started making D&D videos, back when I did the old craftybob, I made a 3-part series where I made a diorama of a star destroyer over Jedha City. It took me like a solid month of filming, everything that could possibly go wrong did, and then the videos flopped harder than the kid that can't swim at summer camp. Needless to say, I packed away all my crafting gear into a box, set that box on fire and started making D&D videos and I only think about the horror of that video series seven times a day now, so I'm doing great, thanks for asking!

[@heyitsMattyP]

Oh no! The meta-trainwreck of the video doing badly and haunting you forever is terrifying. Check back in a week and we'll see if we're both in the same boat/storm. Your diorama looks very rad though! You're on a whole other crafting level :D

[@IcarusGames]

@@heyitsMattyP In a lot of ways, it was a really good thing. I was stuck in a really unhealthy grind. Crafting videos are super time intensive and I was running on fumes, so the crafting-Hindenburg forced me to re-evaluate my youtube life and now I'm here. If it weren't for that accursed diorama, we may never have crossed paths, and that truly is the darkest timeline!

[@heyitsMattyP]

@@IcarusGames In my experience, crafting videos go super quick. But I guess you can't film a beautiful trainwreck like this without the speeding train :D You definitely made a good change - your whole operation has shifted a few gears since 2018. Do you still have the diorama?

[@IcarusGames]

@@heyitsMattyP I keep it in my display case with all my minis. One day I want to change the base to be the surface of the death star, maybe add some other ships in there, that would be cool!

[@joeyderrico8134]

These are cool. For PCs I use normal miniatures. But for most NPCs/Creatures I print out round tokens (With borders). I made several templates of different sizes. 1/4" for for tiny, 1/2" for small, 1" for medium, 4" for large, 9" for huge, 16" for Gargantuan and 25" for Colossal (I started doing this under 3e thus the colossal). The templates are in Photoshop files (Though this method can be done in any graphics program). I find pictures of the creatures I want to use, put it in the template I want. I then save as a png. I then have a 1 page template with a 1" grid on it. I import (copy/Paste) the creature onto this template. For most creatures I want more then one. If I have space I will normally use the extra space to print more humanoid tokens because I always could use more humans, Orcs, Elves, giants etc. I also put numbers on the tokens so I can keep track of them during initiative and who has how many HP, etc. The cost is some time, and some ink so not too bad

[@heyitsMattyP]

Wait a hot minute. Am I understanding this right? Have you made a 25-inch mini???? Oh my god. What was it?

[@joeyderrico8134]

In 3x there were several colossal creatures. I had some dragons, an Assassin Vine (That was fun). The Tarrasque was also colossal (Its smaller in 5e)

[@ChrisGardinerBill]

I use 1 inch acrylic stickers, and 1 inch adhesive magnets. It’s even easier than this technique and less mucking around with glue and scissors. I get the supplies off eBay from a seller that posts from Sydney. Sly Flourish has a video on how to use them.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Oh nice! I saw Sly Flourish talking about something similar on Twitter while I had this video on my to-do list, and I was thinking, "Don't do this to me Mike. I've got dibs on this video." But now I've just watched his tutorial and his tokens are way better/cleaner than mine. Sly Flourish wins this round, but wait till he sees my original series of books, "Lazy Dungeon Mastering and You - The Return".

[@ChrisGardinerBill]

Matthew they are super easy to make. I have zero crafting talent and they come out looking like a millions bucks!

[@heyitsMattyP]

​@@ChrisGardinerBill Do you mind sharing which seller you use? I'll pick some up!

[@ChrisGardinerBill]

Matthew Perkins i bought them in lots of 100 each. I’m on to my second lot of tokens! I print them out on photo paper and sand which them between the acrylic stickers and the self-adhesive magnets. works a treat! www.ebay.com.au/itm/254215033017 www.ebay.com.au/itm/271988533984

[@bobcarnicom2232]

This was a joyful experience. Thank you for the realist craft video around!

[@heyitsMattyP]

That's a title I'm super happy to claim :) Just wait till I graduate to using an exacto knife though, I'll also claim "most blood lost in a crafting video"

[@bobcarnicom2232]

@@heyitsMattyP just no losing fingers!

[@heyitsMattyP]

yes dad

[@Generoman]

I actually make tokens like these myself, using 1 inch diameter washers instead of crafting disks. I don't trust my accuracy with a 1 inch hole punch, though. I laminate and cut out every token by hand. I also have a couple of blank laminated tokens that I write on with a dry-erase marker when I need generic tokens.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Oh! I tried laminated tokens too, but I used them for 2D standies. I used to cross creatures out when the were killed, just for a little theatre.

[@ethancooper1056]

You could also probably make the cutting process easier by leaving the door open, and lining the punch up by looking in the door at the bottom. It might be a little awkward but I feel like that would be better for the purpose

[@heyitsMattyP]

D'oh!

[@BeyondTheScreenRPG]

So I printed these beautiful maps on A3. One time I had a really big one, spanning over 4 pages. To save time, I thought I'd put them one over the other when I cut them. Big mistake. They weren't aligned AT ALL.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Aviad, that's a mistake I make with every stack of paper. "No, I can to it this time. I'm better than before. I've learned." But I never learn. I'm just a fool with hubris and a guillotine.

[@adammetc]

I do something similar in a lot of ways. Except when I punch the prints out using the fiskar inch punch, I hold it up the other way so I can see what I'm doing... or was that part of the joke?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Damnit. That's a good idea.

[@icosahedronshiny3128]

daiso sell 1 inch wide self adhesive magnetic tape, if you used that instead of the coins you could have magnetic tokens. Not sure if it will fit in the hole punch but it’s easy to cut

[@heyitsMattyP]

​@@icosahedronshiny3128 I've actually bought a bunch of that stuff before! I used it to make magnetic wedding invitations a few years ago. You're right - I don't think it would fit in the whole punch, but I think it would be pretty simple to cut it into 1-inch squares and make square tokens.

[@paulsavas2394]

Dude. You’re awesome!

[@TheBaron75]

I thought you were going to drink the glue at the end...

[@heyitsMattyP]

"Anyway, thanks for tuning in for my final video. Goodbye forever. Hello glue."

[@gsgrzegorz98]

yay, tokens. It's a shame that you didn't show the trick with using TCG albums to store them.

[@heyitsMattyP]

Yay tokens! I tried the TCG storing method, but I struggled to get the tokens out whenever I needed to use them. I instead use a little tacklebox and store entire encounters in each section.

[@shoog4862]

Is that Dusty Rhodes?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Yep! Though in our game he was a halfling bouncer called The Nug.

[@Katosepe]

I relate soooooooooooooooo hard to this video. XD

[@heyitsMattyP]

The only way I could have made this video more relatable is by giving up halfway through and playing videogames.

[@granttrain3553]

5 dollars for 20? why not use coins?

[@heyitsMattyP]

Coins are too bumpy. Though an American quarter is like 0.955 inches, so it might work. Imagine spending it on a soda when your character dies though :D